Combined refrigerating and freight car



Aug. 19; 1930. P. J. KELLY 1,713,460

COMBINED REFRIGERATING AND FREIGHT. CAR

Filed June 21, 1928 and for food stufls and other Patented Aug. 19, 1930res . mama .KELLY," or emcaeo; ILLINOIS .eoMBInEnnEFnIeERATInG ANYIDVcan A Application filed as 21 The main object of my invention istodesign the refrigerating unit for compact installation in each end ofthe car, whereby to "leave a maximum'amountof room for the goods. 7 P

I A further object of the invention is to construct the refrigeratingunit with peculiar means to induce a circulation of cold and warm air inthe car, with the effect of maintaining the I at all times.

' A still further, object of the invention is to provide a simple meansfor shielding the regoods under a cold temperature a 2 frigerating unitsin thecar in case the latter is to be used for freightor nonperishablegoods, such asgrain. y V i Another object of the invention is to providea purifying agent in'connect ion with the refrigerating units, wherebyimpurities in the atmosphere within the car may be ab sorbed withoutnecessitating the ventilation of the carwith air from the, outside.

' A final, but nevertheless important object 7 of the invention is to'constructfthe novel refrigerating means with utmost simplicity, sothatthe equipment may not add materially to the cost or maintenance of thecar.

WVith the above'objects in View and'any 40 othersthat may suggestthemselves in the specification and claim to follow, a betterunder'st'anding' of the invention may be gained by reference to theaccompanying drawing in which 7 i Figure 1 is a cross sectionofthe car,show- -ingi the refrigerating unit in one'end thereof;

an e

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of such end, taken-on the line 22 of Figure1.

Referring specifically to the drawing, 5

1928. Serial No. 287,290;

' denotes the sidewalls, the 7 the floor and8 the end walls of "atypicalfreight car. 'For the useof the latteralso as a" refrigerating car, Idouble the walls thereof as in-. dicated at .9 as well as in othernecessary places to receive vacuumunits, so as to retain the temperature111 13116 car for long per1ods.

I do not'claim'i'nventionfor this expedient;

nor for other means for sealing the car to a retain its temperature,such as doors, fittings andthelike.

n each end of the: 051 1 mean a refrigerating unit in the, formof a box10, which extendsjthefull width ofthe car. The box is constructedpreferably of heavy galvanized sheet metal and is provided at the topwith a'lojading-neck 11,'flttedwithfa lid 12. On the fronta-nd rear'arewood gratings 12 and at the bottom is installed a drain board 13,

the bottom 'being sunkfto formv a gutter 1&1

into which the Water draining from theice mayf mcumulate. 'Whenithisoccurs to agiven height, a trapi15 comes into play to lead the excessinto a discharge pipe '16 ;while; creating aseal against therise ofatmospheric orwarm air through the discharge pipe into 7 therefrigerating unit} Thus, water to a certain-level is "always present inthe gutterll and this makes for the purification of-theatmospherewithinthe car. j It isan'estabsorbs atmospheric impurities. gg

-Th e in'ner-wa'll oftherefrigeratingunit is formed with severalhorizontal series ofper forations'16; One of these 'seriesisfnearthetop, while the balance of-the" series. commences about'one-third waydown, continulished fact-that. an open .vesselofwaterabing tothe'bottom. Infront of the perforated wall afset; of deflector platesl'?is" applied opposite the several series of'perforations 16; Thetop-deflector plate opens in an upward direction, while the balance ofthe. deflector plates'op'en downwardly. No deflector plate is providedor considered necessaryfor the lowermosts'eriesof perforations.

In-front of thefrefrigerating unit and spaced therefromis anassemblyijof gates 18,

which are hinged to the car at theouterl ends I A as indicatedwat319.:The" gates close at :the

middle and are secured by a a latch; 20 from one gate closing into akeeper 21 carried by the other gate. The gates are shown closed, andwhen in this position, the car may receive a load of grain or otherfreight without interfering with the refrigerating units in its ends.Ordinarily, grain is piled only to a partial extent, so that the gatesneed not be high to. shieldthe refrigerating units; however, in case theheight of the freight is greater, the gates can be made higher, thisbeing merely a matter of circumstance under one or another condition. a

When the car is to be used for refrigerating purposes, the gates -18.areopened wide and the refrigerating units filled with ice.

The air. chilled by the ice will naturally seek escape from the units atlow levels through the series of perforations 16. The downward passageof air as it emerges from the refrigerating unit will be aided by thedownwardly deflected plates 17, so that this chilled air emerges fromthe unit at each end of the refrigerator and courses through the area inwhich the food stuffs or other perishable freight are located.Conversely, the warm airusually in the upper part of the car will beforced to seek escape laterally, and will enter the refrigeratingchambers through the top serieslof perforations 16 by way of theupwardly deflected plates 17. As the warm air from the food stuffs keepsrising from the effect of its being displaced, the process justdescribed will continue, so that a circulation will be maintained withinthe car at all times. As stated before, the'water gutters- 14: willserve to absorb impurities from the atmosphere of the car and the trap15 will prevent warm air from rising into the same, thus making itunnecessary for external air'to be admitted into the car in order thatthe atmosphere in the latter may be'kept clean and fresh. It will beobvious that the admission of such air is detrimental to the coolingeffect of therefrigerator units and makes the operations thereofwasteful in two ways, that is,-the food stuffs are not apt to bemaintained at a sufficiently coldtemperature-,-.and'the supply of icewill require more frequent renewal.

'The structure described above typifiesa V self-contained refrigeratingcar, -which is .however readily changeable into a freight ear and viceversa, As noted, no moving parts or delicate mechanism are involved toprejudice the action .of the equipment or cause it to get out of order.The parts used are few and simple, and the'cost to build the unitsandinstall them should be low. I have thought it unnecessaryto-design orillustrate any additional equipment which-Would be advisabletogc'omple'te-the installation for the in'ost' efficient operation,since additional fiequipment is 'easily within the skillroftherefrigerating engineer whoi's specialized in the :field ofrefrigerating cars.

I claim: A combined refrigeratmg and fre1ght car comprising arefrigerating chamber in said car characterized by a wall havingpassages for permitting air in the'car to circulate through therefrigerating chamber, means forwardly of the wall for deflecting airissuing from the refrigerating chamber, ice

supporting means mounted substantially in the plane of the bottom of thecar, a shallow drainage receptacle below said ice supportmg meanscorrespondlng in size to the bottom of the refrigerating chamber andadapted to contain water and expose a relatively large surface of thesame for the absorption of nnpurities from the refrigerating chamber,

and means for controlling the quantity of

